(Eagle News) — The Palace on Thursday, April 25, welcomed the results of the recent Social Weather Stations survey that found that hunger incidence among Filipino families went down in March.
According to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, the drop to “a single-digit 9.5 percent” in the first quarter of 2019 “indicate that the President’s sincere efforts in addressing soaring prices and running a bureaucracy that efficiently delivers basic services to the poor and marginalized are beginning to bear fruits and now being felt by our countrymen.”
He noted for instance the salary increases for teachers and police and military personnel, the free irrigation for farmers, the universal health care for all Filipinos, which were made possible by President Rodrigo Duterte’s “incomparable political will and decisive leadership.”
“We’re off to a good start,” he said.
He said Duterte “has been working tirelessly in improving the socioeconomic status of millions of Filipinos for them to lead a more comfortable, secure and prosperous life.”
“Indeed, much has been done in the first three years and with a workaholic and compassionate leader at the helm, much more would be accomplished in the remainder of President Duterte’s term,” Panelo said.
The SWS survey conducted from March 28 to 31 found that the 9.5 percent, or an estimated 2.3 million families who experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months, was one percent lower than the 10.5 percent in December 2018.
According to the SWS, this also “marked the second conseuctive quarter where there has been a decrease in hunger from the one prior.”
